This photo was taken four days ago, on 28 June 2016, when I went with friends, Dorothy and Stephen, to Bow Valley Provincial Park They are leading a day trip out there soon and wanted to do a dry run and very kindly invited me to go with them.

These mountains are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards on Highway 1A from Calgary. They form the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Mt. Yamnuska (not seen in this photo) is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders. It is less than an hour's drive west from Calgary.

Our main walk was following the Many Springs Trail, which is perhaps the most rewarding in the park. A great variety of plants can be found there. We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, Harebells, Fleabane, and lots of Gaillardia. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer.

Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher (Willow or Alder Flycatcher) near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour. I took three or four rapid shots of a Spotted Sandpiper and then we left the area, as she was making it clear that she had a nest or young ones somewhere.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake (seen in this photo) and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - there was no sign of the beautiful reeds that used to really add something special to this view. We had seen the same thing at Many Springs, too.

The weather forecast for this day mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive.

Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go.

www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/

The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing!

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